The Heart of a Thief
by Phantom Misfit
Summary: Someone stole money from Sam and while she doesn't care about the money, it makes her sick to think they stole from someone so young. Of course, Danny is there to help, in any way possible. Implied DxS


Danny was getting worried.

That morning he'd called Sam and she hadn't answered. Hours later, he called again, figuring she hadn't woken up yet. She still didn't answer. And when he'd gone online and seen her on, he'd tried chatting with her, but as soon as he did she logged off.

Was she angry at him? Was something wrong? Danny turned ghost, lime green eyes filled with concern, and he phased out of his room, flying over to Sam's house.

As the wind slashed by him it cleared his mind and made his thinking sharper. She was probably just upset about something, not in trouble. But what if she was?

He neared Sam's house and hovered near the window. What he saw made a lump appear in his throat.

Sam was lying on her bed, arms around her pillow with her face mashed into it. She wasn't moving, which was a sign that she wasn't asleep.

Danny quickly phased into her room and dropped softly onto the carpet. "Sam? What's wrong?"

She sat up with a start, eyes sad but surprised. "Danny? What are you doing here?"

"I tried calling and chatting with you online," He reminded her gently. "What's going on?"

Sam took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I dropped my wallet and someone stole a hundred and forty dollars from it."

Danny blinked in disbelief. "Are you serious? How do you know?"

Sam's head dropped into her hand. "My mom found my wallet in our mailbox, and I remembered I left the money in there. They were kind enough to return the wallet, " She scoffed, "But not kind enough to return the money with it."

"I'm sorry, Sam." Danny murmured sympathetically, sitting beside her and the bed and putting his arms around her. She returned the hug for a bittersweet moment before they pulled away and Danny gave her a one-armed side hug. "But isn't a hundred and forty dollars just chump change to you?" He smiled innocently at her glare. "I mean, isn't it not a lot of money compared to how rich you are?"

"Of course," She sighed, leaning into his arm, her head in the crook of his neck. "It just makes me upset that…my school ID was in there."

"So?" Danny inquired.

"So they most likely _saw_ my ID, saw I was young, and took the money anyway." Sam pressed her fingertips against her eyelids, feeling them go hot. "I know it's stupid, but I expected that people have enough good in them to return money to a fourteen year old. I know they steal from adults, but I thought they'd have enough conscience as to realize they're stealing from a kid."

"It's not stupid," Danny murmured, laying his head on top of hers. "In fact, it's sweet."

"No, it's naïve." Sam laughed without humor. "What if someone _else_ had had that amount of money stolen? I'm rich and like you said, it's chump change to me. But if it were someone else, they worked hard for it. They would have been devastated."

Something too strong to be called tenderness swelled in Danny's chest. "You're amazing, you know that?"

She looked up at him, tears shimmering in her beautiful eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"I've _never_ seen you cry. And now, the first time I do, it's over some hypothetical person getting their money stolen, not about _your_ money being stolen. You're just amazing." He kissed her temple and she tried not to cringe at the contact, knowing that it would only make her fall for him more.

"I don't think so." She sighed. "It's just so _wrong_ to me."

"I know what you mean, Sam." Danny muttered, a plan forming in his head. "I know what you mean."

--

_Lost: $140_

_I dropped my wallet and someone found it, taking $140 out of it before placing it in my mailbox. I'm a minor and worked hard for that money – please return it. Please return it to 1313 Mockingbird Lane or 5225 Fenton Works Rd. Thank you._

"Danny, this is crazy." Sam shook her head as Danny grinned at her, showing her the poster he made.

"Come on, Sam, just give it a chance!" He protested. "Maybe whoever took it will return it, and your faith in humanity will once again be intact." He grinned at her eye roll. "Nice vocabulary, Danny."

"Come on, let's just post a few of these up around your neighborhood and we'll see what happens, okay?" He smiled encouragingly at her.

"Fine." She muttered, unable to resist that smile. "Let's go."

--

They tacked the posters around Sam's ritzy neighborhood and went to the Nasty Burger. When Tucker heard about it, he just laughed. Why would people who were _already_ rich steal a hundred dollars from a teenager?

The signs stayed up for a couple of days, a few getting vandalized with graffiti, but nothing too bad. Sam wasn't optimistic about it, and was sullen for a while before she vowed to forget about it. No matter how upset it made her.

On the third day of the posters being up, Sam was laying on her bed listening to her Ipod when she heard an excited tap on the window. Knowing who it was, she smile and turned off her music, sitting up and stretching. "Hey, Danny."

He phased into her room and dropped to the carpet, grinning brilliantly at her. "Sam, look! It worked!"

Sam blinked down at his outstretched palm. Scattered bills in sad shape lay there, and her mouth dropped open. "The posters worked?"

"Yeah!" He took her hand and opened it, seeing as she was in disbelief, and handed her the cash. "See Sam, even thieves have some good in them."

"Wait a minute." She shook her head. "I had a hundred dollar bill and two twenties in my wallet when it was stolen. These are just a bunch of fives and tens and some dollar bills."

"Well, the guy said he already spent your money, but when he saw the signs we put up he felt so bad that he got some money from the bank to pay you back." He hugged her briefly. "Isn't it great?"

"Yeah." She smiled tremulously, a light in her heart that had been previously darkened lit up again. Danny was right. Everyone _did _have some good in them. And now she believed. "Thank you so much." She hugged him back and everything was alright.

--

When Danny got home, he pulled out a shoe box hidden in his closet. He placed it on his bed and pulled the top off, displaying hundreds of bills inside. Counting the amount once again, he sighed. But then he smiled and hid the box under his bed.

Because if taking a hundred and forty dollars from his car savings, which he'd been saving up since age 10 made Sam believe in the good of humanity again…

He'd do it again any day.

--

:( This happened to me a few days ago. I dropped my wallet with $140 and my school ID inside and someone took it, putting the wallet on top of our mailbox. It just made me upset that they'd take money from a young adult, especially since I worked hard for it. I wish I had a sweetie like Danny :) And I felt like writing this for some support from Sam :D

-Phantom Misfit


End file.
